Battle animations, regardless of target

So it seems like by default battle animations only play if the target is visible on screen. So a skill or item that targets the enemy causes the full animation to play, but if it targets a party member there's no animation.

How would I go about changing this so that things targeting party members still show their animations? I've tried poking around on my own but so far I've only managed to break things.

Here are some ready-made options to consider:

Yanfly Engine Ace: http://yanflychannel.wordpress.com/rmvxa/battle-scripts/ace-battle-engine/

Luna Engine Sample: https://github.com/Archeia/Luna-Engine

Both of these allow you to adjust the party status window to permit animation playback.